The present technology relates generally to electronic packaging, and in some examples, to power electronic packages applicable to power semiconductor devices that provide high device performance and high thermal performance.
To fully utilize the capabilities of high-power semiconductor devices, there is a need to provide the electrical, structural, and thermal environments compatible with their packaging requirements. The development of advanced devices has made it increasingly more difficult to cool power semiconductor devices. Generally, high-power semiconductor devices are packaged with brazed or direct bond copper (DBC). Such packaging is expensive and thus typically limited to high performance applications. Some cost has been lowered by reducing the amount of substrate material, and some reliability has increased when power overlay assemblies such as described in commonly assigned Ozmat et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,377,461 are used to replace wire bonds. In addition, some power electronics packaging techniques have also incorporated milli-channel technologies in substrates to improve thermal performance in power modules.
One technology that gives an economic way to provide a high degree of heat dissipation is insulated metal substrate technology, commonly referred to as IMS. A typical insulated metal substrate comprises at least one metal support substrate, generally aluminum alloy, on which electro-conducting metal, generally copper, is adhered by means of a layer of electrically-insulating and thermally-conducting material. However, in power electronics, the heat dissipation provided by the insulated metal substrate technology is typically less than DBC technology, and it may be inadequate in certain applications to ensure that there is no thermal fatigue.
It would therefore be desirable to provide a cost effective power electronics package that further advances state of the art power module thermal performance while simultaneously providing superior electrical functionality characteristics. Additional costs savings and reliability improvements would also be desirable.